A day after breaking a world record (See the video here), Dwight Howard will participate in the 2010 All-Star Game.
Dwight Howard’s father has been a big part of his life and he sees God’s plan playing out in Howard’s life.
"“God had put everything in place,” Dwight Howard Sr. said. “[Dwight II] was born December the 8th and he was premature. Had he gone full term and been born 22 days or 23 days later, he would’ve been in another school year, he would’ve been with another class.“He might have been with the class that said no more high school kids the first year. A little bit earlier he would’ve been with LeBron … it was just the destiny of God. The destiny of Dwight and God’s will in his life.”The Orlando Magic center believes that, too.“God opened doors for me,” Dwight II said. “He said this is the city that I want you to take to new heights.”"
Tania Ganguli has the story here.
Dwight Howard’s high school teammates reveal much about Howard.
"In the summer of 2003, Slack was invited to the Eastern Invitational basketball camp in New Jersey. Dwight also went to New Jersey, but he attended the famed ABCD Camp. Slack wanted so badly to be there, but when he visited to watch Howard, he understood.“That’s when I started to realize he was big time,” Slack said. “What he said to me before he went to that camp, I saw what kind of mission he was on. Just the exposure. They had so many cameras, former NBA players, big time coaches sitting on the other end.”Slack will graduate from West Virginia Tech this spring, an NAIA school at which he played under an athletic scholarship. He will be the first member of his immediate family to get a college degree.He’s traveled the world for basketball and he wants to be a basketball coach after he leaves school. He’s engaged to be married.“I’ve always [prayed], even before knowing really what God really meant to me,” Slack said. “I know I used to [pray] before I got to SACA. I used to always pray to God for two things. I used to pray to God that I’d be married one day and that I’d do great things in basketball.”"
Tania Ganguli also has that story here.
You can see pictures of Dwight Howard’s high school here. His father is the athletic director.
In a lighter moment, Dwayne Wade came to the All-Star game prepared for his former Head Coach, Stan Van Gundy – he brought ear plugs. Henry Abbott has the videohere.
Stan Van Gundy got the joke.
Caron Butler is going to Dallas while Josh Howard is heading to Washington in a seven player deal. This could be good news for Magic fans – the Boston Celtics will not be acquiring Butler.
John Hollinger called All-Star Saturday night a bust.
"And when it’s bad, it leaves people walking away with mouths agape and palms upturned, wondering why they just spent the last hour watching such dreck. Saturday’s Sprite Slam Dunk contest, unfortunately, fell in the latter category. It was without a doubt the worst one since the infamous Wheel of Fortune contest in 2002."
You can find that story here.
One can only wonder what kind of reviews the night would have been given had Howard participated again.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)